2019 (5th of 49 events in the 2019-20 PGA TOUR Season)

Humble, Texas October 10-13, 2019 Purse: $7,500,000 Golf Club of Houston Par/Yards: 36-36—72/7,441

First-Round Notes – Thursday, October 10, 2019

Weather: Partly cloudy. High of 91. Wind SSE 7-14 mph, with gusts to 20 mph.

First-Round Leaderboard 64 (-8) Talor Gooch 64 (-8) Sepp Straka 65 (-7) Russell Henley 66 (-6) Lanto Griffin 66 (-6) Tyler McCumber 66 (-6)

Things to Know • Austin Cook hit all 18 greens in regulation for the first time on the PGA TOUR and tied his career-best nine-hole score • Talor Gooch set or tied career-bests in 18-hole score, birdies, longest made putt and total feet of putts made • University of Texas sophomore Cole Hammer becomes the ninth amateur to make eight or more birdies since 1996 • 2017 champion Russell Henley sits T4 and entered the week with five straight top-10s at the event

First-Round Lead Notes 3 First-round leaders/co-leaders to win the Houston Open since move to Golf Club of Houston (Tournament Course) in 2006 (Stuart Appleby/2006, /2008, D.A. Points/2013) 0 First-round leaders/co-leaders to win in 2019-20 (most recent: Justin Thomas/2019 BMW Championship) T123 First-round position for Ian Poulter before going on to win 2018 Houston Open

Leaders comparison (entering the week) Category Austin Cook Talor Gooch Age 28 (3/13/1991) 27 (11/14/1991) FedExCup T66 132 OWGR 201 208 PGA TOUR starts 66 49 PGA TOUR wins 1 0 PGA TOUR top-10s 7 2 Starts in 2019-20 4 3 Top-10s in 2019-20 0 0 Houston Open starts 1 1 Houston Open top-10s 0 0

Austin Cook (T1/-8) • Hit all 18 greens in regulation for the first time in his PGA TOUR career • Front-nine 29 tied his career-best nine-hole score (fourth instance and first since back nine/R1/2019 Wyndham Championship) • Played holes 5-9 in 6-under (B-B-B-E-B), the best birdie/eagle streak of his career and tied for the best on the PGA TOUR during the 2019-20 season • As a Monday Qualifier, finished T11 at the 2015 Houston Open • Finished T14 at the season-opening A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier and has missed three consecutive cuts • One PGA TOUR win (2017 The RSM Classic) Talor Gooch (T1/-8) • Made a 63-foot, 2-inch putt at No. 9, the longest made putt of his PGA TOUR career (previous: 55’6”/R3/2019 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am) • Made a career-high total of 156 feet, 3 inches of putts (previous: 143’7”/R3/2019 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am) • Made a career-best 10 birdies (previous: 9/R4/2019 ) • Tied his career-low with a 64 (fourth instance and first since R4/2019 Desert Classic) • Making second start at the Houston Open (first: MC/2018) • Best result in three starts during the 2019-20 season: T56/Safeway Open

Russell Henley (T4/-6) • 2017 Houston Open champion • Five straight top-10s at the event (T7/2014, 4th/2015, T5/2016, Won/2017, T8/2018) • 18th consecutive under-par score at the event (dating back to R4/2014) • Best finish in three starts during the 2019-20 season: T37/Shriners Hospitals for Children Open • Three-time PGA TOUR winner (2013 , 2014 The Honda Classic, 2017 Houston Open)

Cole Hammer (T7/-5) • University of Texas sophomore and Houston native opens with a 67 • Second career PGA TOUR start (first: MC/2015 U.S. Open) • Represented the United States at the 2019 Walker Cup • Made eight birdies, becoming the ninth amateur on the PGA TOUR since 1996 to make at least eight birdies in a round Most Birdies in a Round by an Amateur PGA TOUR Since 1996 Player Event Round Score Birdies Tryon, Ty 2001 B.C. Open 1 65 9 Hammer, Cole 2019 Houston Open 1 67 8 Reiter, Charles 2019 The American Express 3 63 8 DeChambeau, Bryson 2016 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard 4 66 8 Schniederjans, Ollie 2015 4 67 8 Shelton, Robby 2015 3 66 8 Cantlay, Patrick 2011 Travelers Championship 2 60 8 Hoffman, Charley 1999 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open 3 65 8 Woods, Tiger 1996 The Open Championship 2 66 8

Miscellaneous Notes • Lanto Griffin (T4) is the only player that has finished in the top 20 in each of the first four events of the season (13th/A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, T11/Sanderson Farms Championship, T17/Safeway Open, T18/Shriners Hospitals for Children Open) • Monday Qualifier Andy Zhang opens with a 4-under 68 in his second PGA TOUR start; youngest player ever to compete in the U.S. Open (MC/2012) at age 14 years, 6 months • Rich Beem, playing on a sponsor exemption, is playing in a PGA TOUR event other than the PGA Championship for the first time since the 2014 Barracuda Championship (MC); opens with a 3-under 69 • Vincent Whaley withdrew due to a back injury during the round; he was 1-over through 7 (started on the back nine) • Grayson Murray withdrew after the round (7-over 79)

Course Statistics Toughest Hole Easiest Hole R1: Par-4 No. 5 Par-5 No. 8

2019 Scoring Averages Front 9 Back 9 Total Cumulative R1: 36.140 35.371 71.150

Early Late R1: 70.68 72.35

Bogey-free rounds R1 (5): Austin Cook (64), Mark Hubbard (68), Henrik Norlander (68), Cameron Tringale (68), Johnson Wagner (71)